A Course

in
Radar Systems Engineering
Prelude
Dr. Robert M. ODonnell
IEEE New Hampshire Section
Guest Lecturer
IEEE New Hampshire Section
Radar Systems Course 1
Prelude 11/1/2009

Background

This course was initially developed in 2000, as an

introductory course in radar systems engineering for new
assistant staff at MIT Lincoln Laboratory and taught by this
lecturer for a number of years before retirement in 2008.

Typical profile of student is:

Recent engineering / physical science graduate from
university
BS degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Mathematics,
Computer Science / Engineering, or Mechanical Engineering
Almost all have a solid understanding of Electromagnetism,
Probability, and Calculus through Differential Equations and
Vector Calculus

IEEE New Hampshire Section

Radar Systems Course
Prelude 11/1/2009

Course Evolution

The course evolved over the four times that I taught it

The course, in the form that will be presented, is a further
significant evolution of that course

This set of lectures contains material from a very large

number of sources
These are referenced at the end of each section/lecture
Some of the new topics (not in original course) that will be
addressed
Radar design issues
Use of radars for remote sensing
Over the Horizon (OTH) radar
See course outline for more information

IEEE New Hampshire Section

Radar Systems Course
Prelude 11/1/2009

Who its for and what we are going to do!

Who the course is for

Those with little or no previous knowledge of radar systems

What we are going to accomplish

Give participants a start; a broad but not complete,
understanding of radar systems issue and a radars
subsystems
Example: There are several 500+ page textbooks on just the
subject areas of antennas, radar signal processing, or other
subsystems

Lecture material is reinforced with illustrative problems

Presented at the end of each lecture/section

IEEE New Hampshire Section

Radar Systems Course
Prelude 11/1/2009

Textbook

Recommended - Introduction to Radar Systems, Skolnik,

3rd Ed, McGraw Hill

Additional reference textbooks, journal articles, etc. are listed

at the end of each lecture/section

For your information:

Websites of the 50 top University EE/ECE Departments (US
News 2007 rankings) were examined:
Of the fifty, ten offer a Radar Systems or Radar and Remote
Sensing Course
Textbooks used
5 Introduction to Radar Systems, Skolnik, 3rd Ed, McGraw Hill
1 Radar Principles, Levanon, Wiley
1 No text, . Class notes and journal articles
3 No textbook information available from web site
IEEE New Hampshire Section

Radar Systems Course

Prelude 11/1/2009

Course Outline Core Sections

Introduction

Reviews of Electromagnetism

Review of Signals and Systems, and Digital Signal Processing

The Radar Equation

Atmospheric Propagation Effects

Detection of Signals in Noise

Radar Cross Section

Antennas (Two Parts)

Radar Clutter
IEEE New Hampshire Section

Radar Systems Course

Prelude 11/1/2009

Course Outline Core Sections

Radar Waveforms & Pulse Compression Techniques

Clutter Rejection Techniques Basics and MTI (Moving

Target Indication)

Clutter Rejection Techniques Pulse Doppler Processing

Airborne Pulse Doppler Radar

Radar Observable Estimation and Tracking- Parts 1 and 2

Transmitters and Receivers

Adaptive Processing

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Techniques

IEEE New Hampshire Section

Radar Systems Course

Prelude 11/1/2009

Course Outline Additional Material

Electronic Counter Measures (ECM)

Radar Design Considerations
Radar Open Systems Architecture (ROSA)
Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) Techniques
Over-the-Horizon Radars
Weather Radars
Space Based Remote Sensing Radars
Air Traffic Control, Civil, and Marine Radars
Ground Penetration Radars
Range Instrumentation Radars
Military Radar Systems
The total length of each topic will vary from about 30 minutes to up to
possibly ~2 hours; Most will be at least an hour. The video stream for
most topics will be broken up into a number of easily digestible
pieces, each 20-30 minutes in length.
IEEE New Hampshire Section

Radar Systems Course

Prelude 11/1/2009

Use of Course for Academic Credit

The course is being designed to be a senior / 1st year graduate

course in Radar Systems

Interested students, whose university does not teach or regularly

teach a Radar Systems course may wish ask their faculty advisor
for the name of a faculty member who could over see their:

Choosing the appropriate lectures, or pieces, for a custom 1 or 2 term

course sequence
Correct the assigned problems / or assign others
Problem solution book is available to faculty from the publisher

Develop a final examination or term paper project for the course

A number of suggested term papers are suggested by Dr. Skolnik at the end
of the problem solutions book

We to develop a methodology for students to take the course for

transferable university credit via distance learning technology

Please email me if you are interested at bob.radarman@gmail.com

IEEE New Hampshire Section

Radar Systems Course
Prelude 11/1/2009

Acknowledgement for Material Assistance

MIT Lincoln Laboratory

Support and encouragement in radar education projects while

employed there

The Laboratory has been kind to allow use of a significant number

of Lincoln Laboratory copyrighted and previously publicly released
viewgraphs and photographic images

The viewgraphs are a subset (~ 125) from a radar tutorial that Dr. Eric
Evans and I had presented at the IEE International Radar Conference in
the UK in 2002
A large number of previously released copyrighted photographic
images and viewgraphs from Lincoln Laboratory, books, journals, and
other sources
The above noted MIT LL images and viewgraphs are noted at the bottom of
the of the viewgraph
Courtesy of MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Used with permission

Permission to reuse any of the copyrighted material in these

viewgraphs and / or images, or other copyrighted material in the
course, must be obtained from the appropriate copyright holder
IEEE New Hampshire Section

Radar Systems Course

Prelude 11/1/2009

10

Acknowledgements - Continued

IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society Board of

Governors
Support for computer equipment (PC,SW, server, etc.) and the
O & M used to generate this course material

IEEE eLearning Library

Who will be hosting the course, at no cost, on that website
Steve Welch and Jill Bagley of the IEEE Staff

IEEE New Hampshire Section

General Sponsorship and election as chairman of the
Education Committee of the NH Section

The Computer Science Department of the University of New

Hampshire
Who are hosting the course, at no cost, on their website
Scott Valcourt of the UNH IT Department for webware support

IEEE New Hampshire Section

Radar Systems Course
Prelude 11/1/2009

11

Acknowledgements - Continued

A number of major radar contractors have kindly allowed the

use of a significant number of photographic images of their
products. Among them :

The Raytheon Company

Northrop Grumman Corp.
Lockheed Martin Corp.
Boeing Corp.

All copyrighted images are acknowledged by Courtesy of

XYZ Corp. Used with permission
Public Domain images are acknowledged, but without Used
with permission

A diligent effort was made not to use any copyrighted

images without the owners consent
A significant number of previously published line drawings
were artistically re-rendered / redrawn using Adobe
Illustrator so as to not infringe upon copyrights
IEEE New Hampshire Section

Radar Systems Course

Prelude 11/1/2009

12

Copyright Issues

Except for copyrighted material, acknowledged in the lectures

and reference material, these viewgraphs and the video
material, which constitute this course are copyrighted by the
Robert M. ODonnell under Creative Commons AttributionNoncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
Any use of this copyrighted material must be attributed to the
author RMOD Radar Systems
None of it may be used for commercial purposes
It may be shared and modified freely, subject to the above
restrictions
See the following url for more information on the Creative
Commons License http://creativecommons.org/

For any copyright infringement concerns, please contact the

author / lecturer Robert ODonnell at
bob.radarman@gmail.com and they will be dealt with promptly
IEEE New Hampshire Section

Radar Systems Course

Prelude 11/1/2009

13

Authors Note

As of December 10, 2010, ~1150 viewgraphs which

constitute about 90% of the core material have been
finished and reviewed by the author
Colleagues in the radar field have reviewed the viewgraphs
before video recording the lectures

I will review and edit the video lectures before publishing

them on the web

Even with this process, expect a few technical and

typographical errors to leak through this review process
and end up being launched on the web

I hope the viewership will be understanding and

communicate to me any and all errors so that they can be
fixed through appropriate video editing, rerecording, etc.
All constructive criticism is heartily requested and should be
sent to me at bob.radarman@gmail.com
IEEE New Hampshire Section

Radar Systems Course

Prelude 11/1/2009

14

Dedication

To my father, Michael, a lifelong educator, and to my sons and

daughter Michael, Meghan, Brian, and Andrew

To wife, Janice, for her patience, understanding, love

To those whose dedication and special gift for the teaching of

physical sciences and engineering nurtured and influenced me in
my early career:

Sr. Mary Seraphine, CSJ, St. Marys High School, Lynn, MA

Prof. Hans Mark, MIT
Prof. David Frisch, MIT
Prof. Herman Feshbach, MIT
Prof. Walter Selove, University of Pennsylvania
Prof. Henry Primakoff, University of Pennsylvania
Prof. Herbert Callen, University of Pennsylvania
Dr J. David R. Kramer, The MITRE Corp.
Mr. Charles E. Muehe, MIT Lincoln Laboratory

To Bill Delaney and Dave Briggs for their decades of guidance and
mentoring during my career at MIT Lincoln Laboratory

IEEE New Hampshire Section

Radar Systems Course
Prelude 11/1/2009

15

Special Dedication

In Memory of Roger W. Sudbury

Friend and mentor
IEEE Fellow
MIT Lincoln Laboratory employee
From Technical Staff to Executive
Officer

Former president of IEEE

Microwave Theory and Techniques
Society
Officer and member of MTT Society
and many other national IEEE
offices and committees

1938-2010

IEEE New Hampshire Section

Radar Systems Course
Prelude 11/1/2009

16